> Grapevine, Texas, may be famous for the Bonnie and Clyde shootings near town, but wait until an estimated 15,000 attendees of the CPL (Cyberathlete Professional League) Summer Championships descend on the sleepy burg on July 5. This World Series of Video Games event is BYOC – if you don’t know that “C” stands for computer, then please don’t bother showing up – and sounds like the funnest road trip a desktop could have. Register at www.thewsvg.com ($80), and sign up for one of five pro tourneys. Rest assured this is no joke; does $225,000 in prizes sound like a joke? Maybe, but some of these cyberathletes are laughing all the way to the bank, sucker.
> Still reeling from last year’s Austin Game Conference? Already looking forward to the fourth annual shindig? Well, perhaps it’s time to take a long look in the mirror, but then again, AGC has some big announcements. Try an unprecedented third day on for size (Sept. 6-8). Act now (or at least before July 21) and get 40% off registration. That’s probably a smart move since the undiscounted $495 might make you look desperate.
> They’re going to need that additional day for the newly added Game Audio Conference that joins the Game Writers Conference and Casual Game Conference under the AGC umbrella. I may never find out why the music to Final Fantasy II nearly brought me to tears back in the day, but at least I’ll meet the people who attend the Sound Source Acquisition and Library Maintenance session and be able to thank them for doing a job I never knew existed.
This article appears in June 16 • 2006.
